Before I made these, I saw countless recipes that were basically the same and all the reviews were the same as well; blah! The recipes that had rave reviews were made with boxed cake mixes and canned strawberries so I set out to make a scrumptious strawberry cupcake completely from scratch.. and I did!

I followed those recipes to see what everyone was talking about. They were right; the cupcakes were an ugly grey color, way too dense, even denser than a muffin and too thick, and the flavor was not something I enjoyed tasting. The birds were happy though.

After a little thinking, I realized the cupcakes needed a touch of baking soda to make them lighter and fluffy to combat the denseness and a lot more puree to dramatically improve the flavor and the color, no need for any food colorings with this recipe. I thought I would spend a lot more time tweaking this recipe but the first time was perfect! These cupcakes were so good that just a little over 24 hours later, they’re all gone and the person who ate the most was my oldest son who has never liked anything strawberry.

I used the Ninja to puree the strawberries. In less than 30 seconds, I had perfectly pureed fruit. This thing is awesome!

Strawberry Cupcakes

2 cups fresh strawberries, pureed, boiled down

1 1/4 cups organic flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 TBSP ground flax seed + 1/8 tsp baking powder + 6 TBSP hot water

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup safflower oil

1/2 cup whole milk

Rinse strawberries and cut off stems. Use blender or food processor to puree strawberries and 2 tsp sugar until smooth. In small pot, simmer strawberry puree until it cooks down and gets thick. This will take a little while; roughly 15 minutes or so. Stir frequently to make sure it doesn’t burn and to check progress.